You Promised Me the Sky
by PathOfThorns
Summary: AU WWIII has left the world in ruins and millions dead, or undead. Sam, John & Dean are Hunters, people who hunt down the worst possible monsters: zombies, the creatures that killed thier mom, but they soon learn that the worst kind of monster is human...


**So I think I mentioned this before, but I'm pretty indecisive on what to write, and I keep coming up with new ideas, so I'm just gonna throw this one out there too.  
>It's a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, dystopia AU and it'll have aspects of hurt!winchesters, but it's mostly going to be story-based instead of plotless hurtcomfort Also, it's set in the future, but just assume that Dean and Sam were born later. There may be some OOCness, but I'll try to keep them in character for the most part. Enjoy  
>Dean is 18 and Sam is 14<br>R&R please! It keeps me writing.  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural<strong>

In the past, people used to theorize that the world would end on December 21, 2012. Well, they got the day right, but they were off about twenty years. December 21, 2032 was the day the world as we knew it ended.

We call it Hell Day or H-Day for short. You may think that's cliché, but it truly was the day Hell came to Earth. Everyone always used to have their own theories on how the world was going to end; robots, tsunamis, earthquakes, WWIII. Well those of you who guessed the ladder were right. WWIII struck so hard it had Hell coming up to watch the show, and there it stayed ever since.

And if Hell is here on Earth, then were do the souls of the millions who died go? Nowhere is where. They stayed on Earth too. Reanimated and got right the fuck back up. Zombies? Not exactly, but that's what everyone calls them anyway. The President, when we had one, used to say that it was simply caused by the radiation, but no one knows for sure why the dead suddenly became the un-dead. For some unknown reason, ever since then whenever someone dies they always come back as a zombie.

That's the world that I was born into, and four years later, the world that my little brother was born into. A world where cities were made up of about a hundred people and barbed wire fences surrounded the small perimeter, serving as the walls that kept us in, and the Undead out. A world where the sun was always obscured by pending gray clouds caused by the explosion of one too many bombs. It was like an unmoving blanket, darkening the world and people's attitudes alike.

A blue sky, we all thought, was impossible. Cars and planes were simply things of fiction, and electricity was pure fantasy to us. To be able to create light just by flicking a switch? Unimaginable. But the survivors of H-Day, the elderly men and women in our town, still tell us stories of the old days, of a warm sun, flying machines, and a body of water bigger than land itself.

All those things are gone now though, and no one has been able to find any remaining proof of it. All the pictures were either burned up in the War, or stolen by others desperate to remember. Life back then seemed like Heaven to us now, but there was no use in getting caught up in fables of the past. No, it was better to focus on the here-and-now.

**()()()()SPN()()()()**

Today was Sammy's birthday. He was officially counted as an adult now, even though the elders of our town complained that fourteen was still too young to be an adult. To me, however, and to the rest of the town, it was the day that little Sammy grew up. Well, maybe not to me. Sam would always be my little brother no matter how old he got.

Typically, according to the elders, on your fourteenth birthday you were supposed to be opening presents and celebrating for the whole day. To us? Well I did get him a present. I got Sam a big ole Hunter's knife. Why? Well because it runs in the family, I guess. We're all Hunters, and by Hunters, I mean that we hunt down the Zoms. Someone's gotta do it, and so my Dad stepped and took the reins so to speak.

As for celebrating…well if you can call a Raid celebrating, then sure, we were celebrating. We celebrated Sam's coming-of-age birthday by going on a Raid, all three of us. Previously, Sammy had been too young to work, but now that he was technically an adult he was allowed to accompany us.

So here we all were on a Raid, which is basically leaving the barbed-wire fence and setting out into the Ruin in order to scavenge up supplies. The limited necessities that our town had already gathered wasn't going to be enough to last us through the winter, or even another month for that matter. This is exactly where we came in. Our job was to explore the Ruin for supplies left behind by survivors, or if we were really lucky, find another town out there somewhere that we could trade with. Or course that also meant we ran into Zoms along the way, and so we dispatched them too. Less Zoms in the world meant easier sleeping at night.

Dad and I had been doing this for the past four years together, going out for weeks at a time to search for any other civilizations, but it was all in vain. We haven't found one yet, but then again, we haven't explored even a quarter of the Ruin so far.

We were currently standing by the Fence, on the other side of No Man's Land, or the strip of barren land that separated the town from the Fence, as we waited for the guard to unlock the gate.

"Alright, John. You're good to go. Be careful out there, and good luck." The guard, Timothy, said as swung the gate open.

John nodded at him. "I will, Tim. Say hi to Melinda for me."

The corner of Tim's mouth pulled up in a crooked smile. "Will do, John." His attention turned to Sam and me next. "You boys be careful out there. Zoms aren't nothing to play around with. Dean, you take care of that brother of yours."

"Oh Come on, Tim. As if you need to tell me that." I said a little defensively. Of course I was going to watch out for Sam. Who did he think I was? Everyone in town knew how close Sam and I were.

He laughed at that, grinning now. "Yeah you're right. As if I needed to say anything. Well you be careful then, Sam." He turned to my little brother who was currently beaming up at him like he had won the lottery or something.

"I will. Besides, I've got Dean here to watch my back, so nothing _could_ go wrong." Sam turned his smiling face towards me. "Right, Dean?"

Now _I _was smiling too. God I loved this kid. "You bet, Sammy. So long as I'm around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you." Tim snorted in amusement and shook his head fondly at us.

"Alright, boys. We should get going before it gets too dark." Dad called over his shoulder as he slipped out of the gate.

"Bye, Tim." I followed after Dad, Sam trailing along behind me excitedly. He always had been eager to kill a Zom, ever since he learned what killed Mom. My mood darkened as I remembered that day, the events playing out in my mind in gory detail.

I was four at the time, and little Sammy was just a couple months old. It was the day that spurred on our Dad's desire to become a Hunter. It started out like any other day would at the time, with Mom making pancakes for me and Dad cooing over baby Sammy. The events were hazy at best, but I'd never forget the one moment that changed everything.

**()()()()SPN()()()()**

Thumping. Someone was at the door, knocking methodically. _Thump_._ Thump_. Dad stopped cooing at Sammy and stood to answer the door, but Mom waved a hand at him, saying, "It's okay, John. I'll get it."

Dad nodded and instead went over to the kitchen, grabbing a plate from the drawer and scooping pancakes onto it. He wasn't worried. Why should he be? Town was safe. Zoms couldn't get past the Fence. If only he knew then what he knew now, that nowhere was safe, then maybe things would have ended differently.

As it was, we were all naïve. None of us had ever even seen a Zom before. I mean sure we knew that they existed, everyone did; but we hadn't ever actually seen one. We all did that day.

A scream pierced through the small house and instantly Dad was on his feet, Mom's name a cry on his lips as he raced to the door. I was scared, so I immedietily followed after Dad. The sight that greeted us both haunted my thoughts for years after.

Mom was pressed up against the wall, her hands splayed against Mayor Brigand's chest as she tried to push him off. The Mayor's teeth were buried in Mom's shoulder and blood spurted from under his teeth to splash across the walls as he bit deeper.

Dad yelled Mom's name again as he sprinted to her side, his own arms grabbing at the Mayor's gray ones, which were latched onto Mom's arms and holding her in place. I watched with growing horror as Dad pulled on the Mayor's arms and his hands came away with strips of dead skin.

The stench of rotting flesh assaulted my nose then, and I threw up right there on the floor. When I was done, I swiped a hand across my mouth and looked up again even though I didn't want to see.

Dad had succeeded in pulling the Mayor…no, the zombie, off of Mom and was now grappling with it as Mom stumbled over to me. Her white dress was stained crimson with blood, too much blood.

"Mommy…" My voice came out small and filled with fear.

Mom smiled at me then, despite the circumstances, despite Dad currently fighting a corpse, she smiled at me. She always was a mom first, even in the face of Death she would always be trying to reassure her kids. "Shh, baby. It's okay sweetie. Everything's going to be okay."

Liar.

Dad managed to knock the zombie back then, and he took the chance to run over to Mom and I. He was panting with exertion. Who knew a corpse could be so strong?

"Run, Dean! I want you to take your brother outside as fast as you can!" He ordered even as he exchanged a knowing look with Mom. The sadness I saw in his eyes then was enough to have me turning around, but not before I caught sight of the zombie standing up again; its sightless eyes grayed over in death and yet somehow still able to sense where we were. I learned later that zombies went off sense of smell and sound to pinpoint humans, but at the time I had no idea how the zombie was able to lock eyes with me.

They say that if you look a Zom in the eyes, then you can see yourself as one of them, but all I saw was emptiness, death, and hunger; an all-consuming hunger that was the driving force in its need for flesh.

It lasted all of about two second before I was breaking eye contact as I ran back into the living room, grabbing Sam up in my arms and turning towards the back door. I had my hand on the doorknob when I stopped and glanced back over my shoulder.

Dad was carrying Mom in his arms bridal style as he came after me, the rotting corpse stumbling after them.

"Go, Dean! Now!" Dad shouted at me, tearing across the room towards me at a speed born from fear.

Too scared to do anything else, I pulled the door open and ran outside, the gray light of day shining dimly down on us. I made it to the fence surrounding our house before turning around again, Sam clutched tightly in my arms.

The world grew darker as the hidden sun sank, covering my surroundings in darkness and shadows. It seemed fitting for the moment.

Dad stood in the doorway as he set Mom on her feet again. I watched in confusion as he kissed her, tears rolling down his face, before he turned and ran towards me again; leaving Mom behind.

She smiled at me again, sadly this time, and I could see acceptance in her eyes alongside the love.

"Run, Dean. Baby I love you. Always remember that, and please tell Sammy that I loved him too." She looked like an angel as she stood there bravely, her bloody shoulder hidden in the darkness of the house so that all I could see was her white dress and golden hair. "I used to promise you the sky, Dean, but it looks like you're going to have to find it on your own. I love you baby. Look out for your brother."

They last words I ever heard my Mom say. In the next instant rotting gray hands appeared out of the shadows behind Mom and wrapped around her, pulling her back out of sight. I heard a scream and it took me a while to realize that the sound was coming from me and not her. She always was strong.

Then Dad was there, scooping me into his arms, my own arms still wrapped tightly around Sammy, and we were gone. We left that house and its horrors behind and never went back.

**()()()()SPN()()()()**

"Earth to Dean. Hello? Anything in there besides air?" Sam reached up to swat at my head, jerking me from my trip down memory lane. We were well away from the town now, the Fence a small line in the distance. Apparently my feet had been acting on autopilot.

"Shut up, runt. Just because I didn't get an award for being the smartest kid in the world like you did doesn't mean I'm any less smart." I tossed back, but there was no heat behind the words. "I just didn't bother to try."

"Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Sam giggled childishly.

I glared over at Sam, throwing an arm over his shoulders and crushing him to my side. He squeaked in surprise but didn't protest.

"Oh yeah? Well let's see who's laughing once I'm through choking the life out of you. You're face'll be as blue as the damn sky and you won't be able to say a thing about it. I, on the other hand, will be laughing my ass off." I threatened, but we both knew it was as empty as the ocean.

"Dean. How can you do that when you don't know what color the sky is? And don't go asking me, they don't teach you things like that in school, so it's not like I know either." Sam laughed again, not bothered by that fact one bit. It bothered me though, the fact that my brother didn't know what the sky even looked like. No one in our generation did, and it didn't particularly bother me either, but I felt like Sam deserved to know at least.

"You know what, Sam? I promise you that one day we'll see the sky. No matter how far we have to go to do it." I promised, and I never broke my promises, not to my brother. I'd fulfill the promise that our Mom made to me fourteen years ago. I'd find the sky, and I'd do it with Sam at my side. Just like how it should be.

**Alright so I just wanted to get this up. Let me know what you think because I'd really like to know how you feel about this one. Also, I will finish Dying Just to Breathe Again (which is just one more chap) before updating this again so don't think I'm going to ditch that one to do this. I'd never do that lol. Anyway, just leave a review please and let me know what you think, thanks! ~Thorn**


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